This study deals with performance-based design optimization (PBDO) of steel moment frames employing four different metaheuristics consisting of genetic algorithm (GA), ant colony optimization (ACO), harmony search (HS), and particle swarm optimization (PSO). In order to evaluate the seismic capacity of the structures, nonlinear pushover analysis is conducted (PBDO). This method is an iterative process needed to meet code requirements. In the PBDO procedure, the metaheuristics minimize the structural weight subjected to performance constraints on inter-story drift ratios at various performance levels. Two numerical examples are presented demonstrating the superiority of the PSO to the GA, ACO and HS metaheuristic algorithms.